New article: What is the meaning of "al masjid al haram"?

[Mazhar]

Novice, IK; brothers

The command was for doing a work for prescribed measure of time. They could not adhere to the measure of time. Instead some times they shortened the time measure and sometime exceeded the time measure. 



He the Exalted already knew [just intended to expose for you] that you will not be able to keep track of measure of time {while deeply concentrating on recitation of Qur?ān}. Therefore, the intended point having been proved, Allah the Exalted has turned to you.

The purpose was also achieved - imparting the manner of recitation to the believers. And see the shift in the next command, it is about reading the written text, not reciting by recall memory.

[amin]

Masjid, is what we fall for and focus on, and Haram refers to the sacredness of God. People take different signs like the farthest(heaven), the Highest etc.  and make them their focus(temple). Quran says Haram(sacredness) is a truth.

Those times people should have built their temples and mosques representing God's attributes  and signs and Quran says its not east or west thats important, and it asks believers to turn towards sacredness wherever.

Also Quran says  there will be no debate, when we say God is sacred(we keep ourselves in ignorant mode with respect to God) rather than saying HE is the mighty, highest or farthest.

It says from God took prophet from the state of seeing God as sacred(ignorance on God) to the farthest to show his signs. Its a kind of going to enlightenment mode seeing his signs.

[imrankhawaja]

He the Exalted already knew [just intended to expose for you] that you will not be able to keep track of measure of time {while deeply concentrating on recitation of Qur?ān}. Therefore, the intended point having been proved, Allah the Exalted has turned to you.

peace brother Mazhar,

so is this similar kind of situation like in chapter 2 verse 187.. ?

BLUE its appears to me with the help of brackets one can understand God want to prove that human being cant do this so he gives them a command what they definately cant fullfill so after that God turned it to easy mode what a human can do ? do God need to prove anything (he dnt anything in reality) ? so why doing this ? must b a reason logical one for this ?

its very easy to understand the stamina of human being about continuous work so i just dnt understand it all.

[Mazhar]

peace brother Mazhar,

so is this similar kind of situation like in chapter 2 verse 187.. ?

BLUE its appears to me with the help of brackets one can understand God want to prove that human being cant do this so he gives them a command what they definately cant fullfill so after that God turned it to easy mode what a human can do ? do God need to prove anything (he dnt anything in reality) ? so why doing this ? must b a reason logical one for this ?

its very easy to understand the stamina of human being about continuous work so i just dnt understand it all.

It is not about stamina. It is about limitation of human cognate capability. Human cognitive capability is capacity limited. Our conscious brain can process information from the environment to a certain limit. Once one's mind is deeply concentrating and doing one job it may not keep track of passing moments - time units.

Allah the Exalted knows everything yet people are put to trials to expose their real inner worth and potentialities.

[Wakas]

peace imran,

so is this similar kind of situation like in chapter 2 verse 187.. ?

2:187 is a better example, but only issue with it is to seal the deal it needs God to amend a prior instruction but AFAIK that prior instruction (i.e. during abstinence periods do not have spousal relations in the night) does not exist.

So again, there is no equivalent example that I can see.

[Mazhar]

It is a passive verb. Mentioned activity was already permissible. They were not availing it, instead were considering it as non-permissible.

[imrankhawaja]

peace brothers wakas bhai and mazhar bhai,

thanks for your replies i will take some more time to study all of related concepts.

[Mazhar]

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا نَاجَيْتُمُ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ نَجْوَاكُمْ صَدَقَةً ۚ ذَٰلِكَ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ وَأَطْهَرُ ۚ فَإِن لَّمْ تَجِدُوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

أَأَشْفَقْتُمْ أَن تُقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ نَجْوَاكُمْ صَدَقَاتٍ ۚ فَإِذْ لَمْ تَفْعَلُوا وَتَابَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكُمْ فَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ وَأَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ

58:12-13

[Novice]

58:12 يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا نَاجَيْتُمُ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ نَجْوَاكُمْ صَدَقَةً ۚ ذَٰلِكَ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ وَأَطْهَرُ ۚ فَإِن لَّمْ تَجِدُوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
A command was given and as always the Merciful gave exemption for those who could not afford to give sadaqa.

58:13 أَأَشْفَقْتُمْ أَن تُقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ نَجْوَاكُمْ صَدَقَاتٍ ۚ فَإِذْ لَمْ تَفْعَلُوا وَتَابَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكُمْ فَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ وَأَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ
Here those believers were assured, against their apprehensions that they did not give sadaqa, that Allah has already reverted upon them in 48:12 (red part above).

Brother Mazhar His words never change. Salaam.

[Wakas]

peace,

Since no-one had a reply to my previous question, let's move onto the next:

2:149 and 2:150 clearly state "wherever thou depart so turn thy wajh/face/consideration towards al masjid al haram". It does not say do this "during salat" even though that is the most common interpretation. The reason why this is inserted in brackets in translations is that the verse would make no sense without this insertion, i.e. it would fail.

Not only the above, no tafsir/exegesis that I have read attempts to explain why it links this statement to "departing" from somewhere. What has that got to do with facing a direction during prayer? Further, obviously, when one departs to go from A to B, they face in whatever direction they are travelling in, not another direction. It would be impractical and effectively impossible to face some other direction.

To those who believe in the common understanding, do you have an explanation for this?